


in any universe

by youareoldfatherwilliam



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Fluff, Gen, One Shot Collection, Slice of Life, Whatever I feel like writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-05 13:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18829162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youareoldfatherwilliam/pseuds/youareoldfatherwilliam
Summary: Katara and Zuko; no matter what the universe, they always find their way together.  A short one-shot collection that will update randomly and with no particular order





	1. (friends)

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've decided to create this work as a place to post any random Zutara drabble that I might feel like writing. I'm going to leave it marked as incomplete, because who knows? Maybe I'll write another tomorrow, or I won't touch it again for six months (shrugs). Each chapter is a stand-alone unless otherwise stated, and some are in-universe, others are completely au, others might be parodies of a different universe! Crack, fluff, and a little angst; depends entirely on my mood.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing

So, it turns out that Zuko might just be a _tiny_ bit gorgeous.

It’s not like Katara’s never noticed him before, for Tui’s sake. There has, after all, been a whole lot of Avatar-chasing-and-subsequent-apologizing happening over the past few months. But previously, she hasn’t been able to picture Zuko as anything but an enemy. His head had been _shaved_ , for crying out loud (and she very pointedly does not think of another head-shaven boy) and he’d had the most ridiculous plume of hair. And he’d been glaring, a lot, which honestly doesn’t help with the scar.

Not that she thinks the scar is ugly, no. But it certainly isn’t pretty. Strangely enough, it appears to be just one of those things that makes him _Zuko_ ; it’s quite impossible to imagine him without it.

She wonders how he got it, but she knows it isn’t really her place to ask. Here, at his family’s summer home on Ember Island (it’s a lovely place, her room has the _best_ ocean view) they’ve become tentative sort-of-friends. She trusts him now, she does, but they aren’t quite at the place for what seems likely to be a touchy conversation. It’s probably just a training accident anyways; he’s a _firebender_ , after all.

But now that he’s no longer an enemy, it’s getting increasingly hard not to notice the finer lines of his body, the slope of his jaw and the arresting shade of honey-gold eyes.

Seriously, the Fire Nation may be a messed-up, war-mongering machine but that is some _daaaammmmnn_ royal breeding, right there.

So, she’s found a few more excuses to sit and watch him train Aang, without a shirt. After all, the boys might get thirsty, right? And Aang doesn’t really need much training from her anymore, but just in case he does, she should be on hand. Plus, they’re firebending- they’re far more likely to hurt themselves doing that than they are earthbending, or anything else. Honestly, she’s just being a good friend.

And if she makes sure to brush against his chest ( _so_ much pale, sweaty skin) when she offers him a towel after the boys are done then well, no one needs to know.

(Years later, it turns out that Zuko did, in fact, notice. The Firelord makes sure to be shirtless around his wife as much as possible, confusing a great many of the guards around their room who are not used to seeing their liege anything less than perfectly clothed. She’d smack him for it, but his smile only gets smugger).


	2. modern teashop au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His tea honestly is not that bad, alright?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was inspired by me wondering, what would happen if Katara's tea was even worse than Zuko's?

He can’t believe that Uncle won’t let him help make the tea.

He knows that his tea isn’t the best, okay? But Iroh’s tea shop is ridiculously popular with the university crowd, especially now when it’s exam time. Uncle doesn’t hire many staffers. It’s just him, Jin, and Suki. Jin makes the cakes and other delicacies, Suki rings up the orders, manages, and hosts, and he serves the customers. Uncle, of course makes all the tea himself and refuses to serve any other beverage; no coffee, no juice. (They do offer water but then, it’s _tea_ , it’s basically water anyways, and he’s sure that Uncle only offers plain water because it’s required by law).

For reasons he can’t quite understand, the young adult-teenager crowd eats it up.

So, it makes sense to hire another person to make the tea, right? It’s getting harder and harder for them to keep up. Uncle’s busy brewing his precious hot-leaf juice, Jin is always baking, and Suki is always helping a customer or studying for her classes like every day has a final. He’s the only one not constantly busy, and since Uncle doesn’t want to hire anyone else, he’s the most logical choice.

But no, apparently, his tea is too _bracing_.

Uncle even grimaces a little when he says it, as though he can’t bring himself to even pretend to enjoy Zuko’s tea.

So, he’s sitting here alone in the tea shop after rush hour has finished and it’s five minutes to closing; Uncle has bustled away to the upstairs rooms to sort their herb-supplies, telling him that he’s good at many other things, and that he’s sure with practice Zuko will be able to make excellent tea. Suki is off studying somewhere, and Jin had left earlier, something about a boy who chews grass asking her out on a date, apparently, he’s got the most gorgeous messy brown hair, and they’ll manage without her, right?

He’s got his music history books open, deciding that he should probably also study for his upcoming exam (even though he knows he’ll ace it), and he’s contemplating if it’s a bad time to get his tsungi horn from his room above the shop and practice the composition that he’s writing for his performance study, when a girl suddenly bursts through the doorway of the teashop.

Her hair is a wavy sea of brown that refuses to be tamed by the blue scarf wrapped around her head. She’s wearing a brilliant white sundress with a jean jacket on top, and a pair of sandals. Her eyes look at him immediately, and they’re the brightest shade of blue he’s ever seen.

They’re also narrowing at him, focusing on his server’s outfit that he hasn’t quite taken off yet.

She makes her way over to him, resting her palms on the table in front of him. “Do you work here?”

He can’t figure out how to respond underneath all the intensity that’s suddenly staring him in the face (and he notices that she’s looking him in the eyes, both eyes, even the one that his father had decided to hold against an open flame, all those years ago). “Umm…yes?”

She exhales, suddenly fixing him with a bright grin. “Great! Can I get an extra-large ginseng, no sugar or cream, to go?”

He shakes himself and tries to stare at anything other than the waves of her hair as it falls over the smooth brown collarbone peeking out above her dress. “We’re going to be closing in five minutes, I’m sorry”.

Strangely it doesn’t faze her. “But you’re not closed yet, right? I’m sorry if I’m being pushy, it’s just that I’ve got a biology final tomorrow that I need to study for, and I need to be awake for it, and my brother told me that his girlfriend works here and this is the best tea shop in town.”

So, this must be Sokka’s sister, then. He knows the other boy; Suki’s brought him around a few times, and they’ve struck up a strange friendship; Sokka will often challenge him to contests of “manliness”. (He’s never sure what the other boy means, but he goes along with it anyways; Sokka is surprisingly fun to be around, when he’s not trying to distract Suki from work).

He also can’t really fault her logic; technically, they aren’t closed yet. So, he gives her a smile (he hopes she doesn’t notice that it’s a little pained) and nods off to the back room to make the tea. It’s just him, after all, and he really doesn’t think that his tea is _that bad_. He sets the water to boil and when it’s finished, steeps the leaves (it’s not rocket science, after all).

He brings it back out to the girl in a to-go mug and places it gently in her hands, trying not to think about the brush of smooth brown fingers against his own. “Don’t worry about the charge, we’re closing soon anyways.”

Her smile only gets bigger somehow (which he didn’t think was possible, and he can’t think properly when faced with all that beauty, which has suddenly been turned up to eleven, and is looking directly at him). Carefully, the girl blows a breath over the tea, and takes a sip.

Her eyes don’t do the tell-tale crinkling that he’s come to expect from Uncle. Instead they widen even further (so much _blue_ ) and oh, he’s lost the ability to breathe now, she’s so gorgeous.

“My name’s Katara, by the way. Sokka mentioned you to me- you’re Zuko, right? This is pretty good!”

He still can’t properly function yet, so he nods at her and tries to smile. “Yeah, um, that’s me. I’m glad you like it. Hope your final goes well, tomorrow”.

She nods at him, still smiling, and turns to leave with a wave. When she’s gone, he blows out a breath and sits down again. Maybe tonight isn’t such a good night for studying after all; his brain doesn’t seem to remember what thinking is.

When she comes in the next day, and the day after that, he makes sure to serve her himself. Uncle is shocked that _someone out there likes Zuko’s tea_ (thanks for the vote of confidence, Uncle) but soon turns his attentions to teasing his nephew. He can’t even bring himself to argue back; he knows he’s got a crush, and he’s got it bad.

Eventually, when they start dating, he realizes why she loved his tea so much. Hers is ten times worse.

(But he drinks it anyways.)


	3. tangled au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the chapter title says it all (grins)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, I couldn't help myself, I wrote a tangled au! This was inspired by the following post I saw on Tumblr, but I couldn't help wondering, what would happen if I flipped it?
> 
> Post: https://summer-doodles.tumblr.com/post/174370385350/i-cant-sop-thinking-about-this-au-partially-based 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled, and pretty much all the dialogue in this came directly from the movie, but it made me laugh, so, yup (throws it at you and runs away)

Katara wakes up because her ear is on fire.

Not _literally_ , but it’s definitely very hot; she’s certain there are flames next to it. She shrieks, rubbing her ear as best she can against her shirt, before turning to look to the side.

There’s a tiny, red, dragon flying next to her shoulder, staring at her.

She stares at the creature in shock; dragons are a bit of rarity around the kingdom these days, and she’s wondering if maybe it’s possible for her to keep it? She’s so lost in contemplating the dragon that she almost misses the fact that oh, she’s been tied up.

She struggles, trying to move her arms and legs, but they’ve been very firmly fastened to a rickety old chair, with… “Is this… hair?”

It certainly _feels_ like hair; thousands of silky black strands are wrapped around her arms, her stomach, her… well, everything, really. It’s long, and her confused brain tries to follow the trail; what, in the name of Yue, is happening? All she remembers is running from the guards, climbing the tower and then nothing; something had hit her, hard, and now she’s here.

The hair smells sort of nice, though. Like moonpeaches.

Her internal musing is interrupted by a low, masculine voice coming from above her. “Struggling… struggling is pointless!”

She blinks, more confused than ever. “Huh?” She tries to peer into the shadows of the tower beams above her, but well, it’s shadowed; she can’t make out anything except a blurry figure. The person (at least she thinks it’s a person) drops down from the rafters, into _more_ shadows (so helpful) and keeps talking. “I know why you’re here, and I’m not afraid of you”.

Ok, now she’s _really_ confused. “What?” (She should really stop speaking in monosyllables; she’s normally much more quick-witted than this).

But then the person (it’s definitely a person) walks out of the shadows- and oh, sweet Yue, that is a _man_.

Broad shoulders, barely covered by a red tunic and strong arms that are holding a frying-pan, for some reason. His body looks _very_ firm, and she kind of wants to run her hands all over it. He’s got a well-defined jaw, with delicate aristocratic features framed by long, luscious black hair (and her distracted brain vaguely notes that oh, this is where the hair is coming from!). There’s a scar on the left side of his face but it doesn’t detract from his overall beauty, and _Tui_ , the eyes. They’re a piercing gold, and she thinks that she could maybe look at them forever, and oh, he’s speaking again, she should probably focus. She blinks. “Uh-huh?”

The man’s eyes narrow, oh, that just accents his perfect, pouting lips. “Who are you, and how did you find me?”

Okay, focus Katara. She’s still tied up, in a tower, and this man does not look happy. “I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you, but may I just say…” (she subtly flips her hair over her shoulder) “Hey. How’re you doing?”

The man stares at her. Hmm, alright, not the normal reaction, she should keep going.

“The name’s Lady. Painted Lady. How’s your day going?” For good measure, she throws in a wink.

The man gives a slightly slow blink and _yes_ , she’s got him, but then he shakes himself and oh, the frying-pan is now pointed directly at her face. “Who else knows my location, _Painted Lady?_ ”

The words are said with such sarcasm that she feels a little pissed, now. “Alright, Goldie”.

“Zuko!”

“Gesundheit. Here’s the deal. I was in a situation, gallivanting through the forest. I came across your tower, and-” oh, spirits, she’d almost forgotten about the prince’s crown! “Oh, oh no. Where is my satchel?!”

Goldie crosses his arms over his (incredibly well-muscled) chest and smirks at her, smugly. “I’ve hidden it. Somewhere you’ll _never_ find it”.

She looks around the tower; it’s tiny, and Goldie is looking way too pleased with himself. “It’s in that pot, isn’t it?”

Okay, she probably should have seen the whack with the frying-pan coming.

%%%

When she wakes up, it’s because the dragon has blown flames next to her ear, _again_. “Gah! Would you stop that?”

The lizard _smirks_ at her, she swears it does, and flies over to land on Goldie’s shoulder. Goldie grins at her, looking ever-so full of himself, and she’d be swooning if she wasn’t getting very annoyed. The man cocks a hip. “Now, it’s hidden where you’ll never find it. So,” -and the accompanying hair-flip is very distracting- “what do you want with my hair? To cut it?”

She’s almost shocked out of her annoyance. “What? No!”

“Sell it?”

“No!” She tries to ignore the frying-pan that’s in her face, again (it hits surprisingly hard) and starts talking, _anything_ to convince this gorgeous lunatic. “Listen, Goldie. The only thing I want to do with your hair, is to get out of it! Literally!”

(Though that part’s not entirely true, but sue her; it really does smell _heavenly_ )

The man looks a little nonplussed, at that; he stops his circling. “Wait… you don’t want my hair?”

This is just such a _strange_ thing to say that it snaps her out of her subtle sniffing. “Why on Earth would I want your hair? Look, I was being chased, I saw your tower, I climbed it. End of story”.

“You’re…telling the truth?” Honey-gold eyes widen, and dammit, the lizard flies off the man’s shoulder and comes to land on the frying-pan that’s _still_ in her face. It stares at her, and she _swears_ it’s assessing her, but it’s a dragon? They’re not that smart, right? Eventually, it flies back over to the man’s shoulder and well, she can’t help feeling as though she’s fallen short of some test she didn’t know she was taking.

Goldie tucks the frying-pan under his arm and starts _conversing_ with the dragon. She doesn’t really know what’s happening anymore and as hot as this guy is, he’s clearly also a little crazy. Plus, she needs to get the crown, and get out of here; the faster she sells that thing, the faster she gets rich. So, she starts trying to subtly maneuver the chair away.

Of course, Goldie looks up almost immediately. “Okay, Painted Lady. I am prepared to offer you a deal”.

“Deal?” She’s the _Painted Lady_ , she doesn’t make deals with people. She robs them for all they’re worth and leaves with a smile and a wink. But the man starts walking, pulling her along with his hair (and she’s only now beginning to question how such long hair is even possible) and she finds herself flat on her face.

“Do you know what these are?”

 _Spirits_ , her face hurts, and she hopes to Yue that her nose isn’t broken, but she manages to look up from where she’s uncomfortably pressed against the ground, _still_ tied to a chair. Goldie is on a ledge, pointing at a surprisingly well-done painting. “You mean the lantern thing they do for the prince?”

Goldie looks enchanted; his eyes light up and he mutters something that she can’t hear. She doesn’t have time to be amazed by how happy he looks, though, because he clears his throat and points the frying-pan at her again. “Well, tomorrow evening, they will light the night sky with these lanterns. You will act as my guide, and take me to these lanterns, and return me home safely. Then, and _only_ then, will I return your satchel to you. That is my deal”.

She pushes herself up off the ground as much as she can; she’s been letting Goldie make all the decisions for way too long now; it’s time she took her own back. “Yeeaaah. No can do. Unfortunately, the Fire Nation and I aren’t exactly _simpatico_ at the moment, so I won’t be taking you anywhere”.

Honey-gold eyes narrow; and she can’t help it, she’s a little turned on.

The man jumps down from the ledge (Tui, those _thighs_ ) and marches over to her, pulling her up from her very undignified position. “Something brought you here, _Painted Lady_. Call it what you will; fate, destiny-”

She rolls her eyes and mutters sarcastically “An ostrich-horse”. (She hopes to _Yue_ she’ll never see the damn creature again).

Goldie continues as if she hadn’t spoken. “So, I have made the decision, to trust you”.

“A horrible decision, really”.

“But trust _me_ , when I tell you this”. There’s a yank, and suddenly she’s being held up by one of those (glorious) arms, staring into intense, narrowed golden eyes. “You can tear this tower apart brick-by-brick, but without my help, you will _never_ find your precious satchel”.

As strange (sexy) as this situation is, the tower isn’t _that_ big, honestly, and she has never let herself be taken down by a man before. “Let me just get this straight. I take you to see the lanterns, bring you back home, and you’ll give me back my satchel?”

A sharp nod. “I promise”.

She narrows her eyes; she isn’t buying it.

If anything, his look gets even more intense. “And when I promise something, I never, _ever_ break that promise. On my honor”.

The dragon nods at her from where it’s sitting on Goldie’s shoulder. Nope, still not buying it. Okay then, it’s time for her to break out the big guns. “Alright, listen. I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder”.

She breathes in, widens her eyes, and makes sure that her lips look as kissable as possible. It’s a look that’s never failed to work on a man before; even Jet fell for her, and she doubts that Goldie’s any different.

“This is kind of an off day for me; this doesn’t normally happen”.

_Nothing._

Seriously, nothing. If anything, Goldie looks _confused_ and okay, she’s a little hurt right now, but she recognizes when she’s been beaten. “Fine! I’ll take you to see the lanterns!”

The man gives a delighted gasp. “Really?”

She’d appreciate his enthusiasm for life, which is something she hasn’t seen in a while, except she’s flat on her face, _again_. “You broke my smolder!”

She has absolutely no idea what she’s gotten herself into, but she can’t deny that she’s curious to see where this all leads. And as long as she gets her satchel back, it’ll all be worth it.

(Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Goldie’s ass is clearly a _gift_ ).


	4. sledding shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a little in-canon (mostly), future drabble

Zuko stares at her from where he’s signing documents. “No”.

She cocks her hips; her husband has always been a little unreasonable, but _really_. “Why not?”

The Firelord huffs out a breath. “Because, Katara, she’s barely three years old!”

She rolls her eyes. “Zuko, I was two when Dad first took me penguin-sledding. How is this any different?”

“Because we are in the _Fire Nation_ ”. Her husband stands up from behind his desk. “There are no otter-penguins here, and _no_ , koala-sheep are not going to slide down a hill, even if the grass is wet! I am not letting my daughter break her neck with Sokka on some crazy quest to prove one of his theories!”

“He’s her uncle! He won’t let anything bad happen to her, you know this, he’s your brother-in-law for Tui’s sake!”

“Yes. He is my brother-in-law,” Zuko deadpans, “and that’s exactly why I don’t trust him”.

She narrows her eyes, a little. “I’ll be with them. Are you saying that you don’t trust me?”

At this, Zuko shifts a bit. “That’s not what I said!”

Time to press the advantage. “So, what you’re saying is, _clearly_ I can’t be trusted to make sure that my own daughter is safe”. She walks forward to plant her hands opposite his on the desk, making sure that all of her is on full display. His eyes widen; there, she’s got him.

“That’s not what I- stop putting words in my mouth!” Zuko glares at her, and oh, his eyes narrow a bit, he’s onto her. The Firelord walks around the desk and comes to stand directly in front of her; as she turns to face him, he puts his arms around her, cornering her. “Come on, Katara. She’s just a baby; I don’t want her to get hurt”.

She softens a little, at that; Zuko has always been incredibly protective of their daughter, refusing to turn out like a different father that she doesn’t want to think of. She raises her hands and places them on his cheeks, brushing her fingers against his scar. “Nothing will happen to her, I promise”. Golden eyes briefly close, and his face presses into her own. “Besides, you’re coming too”.

His eyes pop open wide again. “What?!”

She grins. “Well, I’m going to be making sure the grass is wet enough, and Sokka will be taking notes. Someone needs to hold on to her. After all, it’s not as though Dad stuck me on the otter-penguin alone. I was only two, after all”.

Zuko sputters, but she leans forward to wrap her arms around his neck. “You can’t deny that you’re a little curious, can you?”

He glares, petulantly. “I admit nothing”. But he also leans forward to press a kiss, against her mouth, then another, and oh, she supposes that the rest of the argument can wait for later.

(Of course, later, she can’t help but tease him about the way he’d screamed, going down the hill).


	5. it's pronounced djinni

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I mess around with Arabian mythology, and produced... something?... I don't even know what this is. Oh well, it's just a drabble anyways :)
> 
> Also, apologies for any mythological mistakes

He feels the tickle in his non-existent bones long before he hears her voice, and he lets out a loud groan.

When he materializes, Katara’s standing in front of him, tapping her foot impatiently.

He rolls his eyes at her. “For the last time, woman! I am not a genie! I am a _djinni_! We are two completely different kinds of spirits! For Agni’s sake, do I look like I live in a lamp to you?”

She huffs out a breath. “I know what you are, Zuko. You’ve made that perfectly clear, _oh fiery one_ ”. This last part is said with heavy sarcasm, and he can’t help but scowl at her- so maybe he shouldn’t have set her curtains on fire, the first time she’d summoned him, but he’d been a little pissed, alright? She continues. “But, I need your help”.

He takes a minute to look closer at her. Her eyes are more bloodshot than normal, and her hair is messy. He can’t help the frown on his face; he’s pretty sure that humans aren’t supposed to look so disheveled. “What is it?”

She purses her lips. “Pirates.”

He stares at her. “Excuse me?”

Her lovely sea-blue eyes roll. “Pirates attacked my ship, Zuko, and they’ve stolen half my crew, including my brother”. He starts, a little- no wonder she looks so upset. He doesn’t quite understand human relationships, but he knows that family is important. “I need you to help me send them a message so I can get him back”.

Sighing, he examines her closely. She’s an intriguing woman; the only female captain in her country’s navy. The first time she’d summoned him, it had been an accident; she’d been transporting treasure back to her human country’s capital, and had accidentally stumbled upon an incantation that brought him here, to her world.

Of course, she’d immediately mistaken him for a _genie_ ; he is not a wish-granter, and he never will be. He’s a djinni, a being of air-and-fire, and he’d taken extreme pains to make that _very_ clear to her.

But for reasons he hasn’t quite figured out yet, she keeps summoning him back; mostly to question him about his world, where he comes from. She seems to enjoy talking to him, riling him up, and if he’s being honest with himself, he kind of likes it.

But she also has never asked him for anything. So, for her to be asking now, it means she’s really desperate.

He exhales (not that he needs to, he doesn’t exactly have lungs, but it’s a habit that he’s picked up from her). “Count me in”.

Her face lifts a little, and some of the spark returns to her eyes. “Really?”

He steps a little closer. “Yes, really. I’m not heartless, Katara, and you look like you need it”.

Her eyes dim, for reasons he can’t really understand; desperate to fix it, he keeps going. “Plus… I don’t mind being around you. Not really, anyways”.

She snorts at him, and he’s relieved to see the fire come back to her eyes. “Thanks, I think”.

He can’t help but grin at her, just a little. “So, what’s the plan?”


	6. miraculous au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wrote a miraculous au, because I have a very-slight-obsession-with-that-children's-show. For anyone who isn't familiar with the plot, they're partnered superheroes and classmates; she's in love with his secret-identity, and he's in love with her superhero identity, and neither knows who the other is. 
> 
> Because, love squares :)
> 
> Also, I don't own Miraculous

She swipes her hand down her face and stares angrily at the boy next to her. “Seriously?”

The Blue Spirit frowns at her (though the effect is somewhat lessened by the grinning blue magical face paint of his costume) and shrugs. “My Lady, I don’t really see what the problem is, here”.

Of _course_ , he can’t see; the idiot is always pulling stunts like this. “You jumped in front of me, again! Spirit, you can’t keep doing this! Do you have any idea what it’s like, every time I have to watch you die?”

His eyes, which are an inhuman shade of gold, narrow. “Painted Lady, you’re the only one who can purify the akuma. We both know that if one of us has to take the hit, it needs to be me. You’re too important to risk”.

Logically, she knows that he makes sense. He can’t purify, restore things to normal after the damage has been done; his powers lie in chaos, creating destruction with his twin dao and his firebending, while hers lies in creation, healing with her waterbending. It has to be her who makes it through every fight with one of the villainized akuma; she needs to be the one to restore balance to their city, to restore the lives lost, to fix the damage that’s been done.

But he’s her superhero partner, her best friend, maybe even something more; and she’s lost track of every time that he’s dived in front of a blow for her; been stabbed, shot, brainwashed, killed.

Like ten minutes ago. When the villain calling herself Princess Power (the names really are getting less creative; after all, _Mr. Pigeon_? Really?) had aimed the deadly laser-bolt directly for her heart; and he’d jumped right in front of her, falling to her feet in a pool of blood.

And she doesn’t know how much longer she can take seeing him like this. “You’re important too. Don’t you realize what it does to me?”

Now his eyes are definitely narrowed, and he steps closer into her personal space, though neither really notices. “My Lady, how do you think I feel? Every time you stand up to a villain, you amaze me, but you terrify me as well, because I never know if each day is going to be your last. Agni, you know how I feel about you- if it has to be me or you, I’ll choose you every time, and I won’t apologize for it”.

“But I can’t lose you!”

The words are shouted into the sudden stillness between them. It’s something that has been growing between them, for a long time. Spirit has never hidden how he feels about her, from day one; but she’s always been too busy with thoughts of Zuko, the gorgeous model in her class.

Lately though, she’s found herself wondering. The similarities between the two boys are becoming impossible to ignore; the way that Zuko grins when he thinks that no one has a camera on him, so similar to Spirit’s mischievous smirk. It’s in the brittleness hiding in Spirit’s eyes when he talks about abusive fathers; how Zuko never mentions his own father; how both boys light up whenever you feed them (which is a whole other kind of sad); how they both look at her with this same sort of amazed _wonder_.

Because she’s noticed that Zuko has been paying more attention to her, _Katara_ , lately as well; and the air is becoming thick with the things that she knows both of them have begun to realize, but never acknowledge.

They’ve been such _fools_.

Eventually, he sighs, and moves even closer; his chest is practically pressed against her front. “I’m sorry that I hurt you, my Lady, but I will never apologize for saving your life”.

She nods, looking down; she doesn’t like it, but the stubborn boy won’t stop, and she knows it’s futile to make him try. However, she isn’t finished yet. “Promise me something, though?”

“Anything”.

“Promise me that you’ll always come back to me”. It’s not really a promise he can keep, and they both know it; but golden eyes nod anyways, staring into her own.

He presses his forehead to hers. “Promise”. They stand there like that, for a long moment. Eventually, his arms come to wrap around her, tentatively, and she presses herself into him as close as she can get. One day, they will have to acknowledge the thing in-between them, the thing that she knows they’re both coming to realize. But for now, he is alive, and she is alive, and their city is safe; and all she really wants to do is hold him, reassure herself that his heart is still beating.

So, they stand together, in the silence above their city.


	7. bedside thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in-canon, after the final Agni Kai

When Iroh leaves the room to fetch a pot of tea, she collapses into her hands.

On the bed, Zuko’s chest is gently rising and falling; uncovered, because they needed to let the horrific wound breathe. But he is finally out of the danger zone, and she is alone; she lets herself fall apart.

The final Agni Kai had been terrifying, and horrid to watch; the flames were enormous, bigger than anything she’d ever seen, and the heat was insane. But Zuko had been magnificent. His bending has come a long way since their first meeting at the South Pole, and she knows he’d been winning against Azula; something that he’d confided in her, on Ember Island, that he’d never been able to do before.

But then she’d _stupidly_ stepped out, from her hiding-place behind the pillar.

Logically, she knows that she couldn’t have predicted what Azula was going to do; that the princess was mad, insane. But the other part of her, the part that can’t seem to stop crying and taking gasping breaths into her hands, is feeling guilty beyond anything she’s ever felt.

He’d taken that lightning bolt for _her_ ; he’d put his life, his country, on the line for her. It isn’t even just that though; it was the entire world; for Zuko’s position as the next Firelord is crucial in this fledgling new world that they’ve all fought for. And he had risked it all, for her.

The worst part is that he isn’t even awake yet; she can’t ask him why he would have done such a thing. She hadn’t wanted to die, obviously, but she had prepared for the possibility. Now though, she sits at his bedside while he sleeps from a wound that was meant for her, one that she knows she wouldn’t have survived.

She wants to shake him, to demand of her once-enemy why he did this. This boy has only been her friend for such a short period of time; now, she’s almost ashamed of how long it had taken her to grant him forgiveness. She had been so hurt, so angry, and she’d taken it out on him. Of course, it isn’t as though he hadn’t deserved her mistrust, her hatred; but she had been so resistant to the possibility of him changing, too afraid to open back up to someone who’d hurt her badly, multiple times before.

Now, even though she knows he’s going to live, she wishes that she could have spent more time getting to know this new Zuko. When he wakes up, things will become hectic; Aang and the others arrived only yesterday, with Ozai in tow, three days after the final Agni Kai. There won’t be as much time as she wants, to talk to him; to tell him all the ways she’s sorry, all the things she’s now beginning to realize about him.

Next to her, Zuko makes a tiny moan; instantly her head is out of her hands, and she begins checking him over, running cool water across his chest.

She has done this so many times now that it has become routine. After the Agni Kai, he’d stood up; but he had quickly faltered, barely lasting long enough for her to drag him to a room in the palace and barricade the door, before he’d collapsed into the unconsciousness that he still has not awoken from. His heart had stopped beating; desperately, she’d stayed awake all that night, forcing his blood to move in time with her own, only dropping from fatigue when the dawn came. When Iroh had arrived yesterday, he had brought all manner of palace doctors and physicians immediately, to attend to the not-yet Firelord. So, she knows that his moan was only a sound of pain in his sleep, not a symptom of something far worse that she can’t bear to contemplate.

But even so, even as she settles back into her chair at his bedside, she cannot tear her eyes away from his chest. It is a ghastly sight; a motley array of reds, purples, and there is blackened _crispy_ skin towards the edges of the wound, that the palace doctors had instructed her not to remove yet as they let his skin breathe. It covers his upper chest directly over his heart, and parts of his stomach, and she knows that it will scar.

Her eyes are drawn to the scar on his face, that she still doesn’t know how he got. There are other scars too, that she’s never properly noticed before; they almost look like mostly-faded whip burns on his back, and other smaller marks. The sight makes her feel a little ill; his body is filled with stories of a life that she’s not sure she can understand. The possibilities of who could have hurt him like this are very limited, and she can’t even begin to comprehend why. Now he will carry another, and nothing she does can take it away.

At the same time though, aside from the _horrible, my fault, oh spirits_ wound on his chest, his body also tells a story of survival, of triumph. Whatever has hurt him, he has come through, and he will come through this. When he wakes, she will be there to help him; she will be there to support him. Zuko is her friend now, and in the quiet moments that she doesn’t understand, she thinks that maybe he is more than just that; he understands her in a way that no one else ever has, before.

But that doesn’t matter now. When he wakes, she will be here; she will make the time, in all the confusion, to talk to him; she will thank him; she will force him to recover properly. She settles herself, drying the stray tear-tracks on her face, and pushes her hair out of her eyes.

When Iroh comes back, she remains sitting in her seat; but her hand is tightly grasping the pale, unresponsive hand of the boy on the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick clarification: I am not a doctor. So please don't take anything I've said here as true for dealing with getting struck by lighting. I mean, I hope that none of you have been struck by lighting, but yes, please don't take medical advice from me (shrugs). 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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